As demand increases for “gluten-free,” “wheat-free,” “dairy-free,” “egg-free,” “allergy friendly,” “vegan,” and other specialized baked goods to support elimination diets, manufacturing companies in the food industry are challenged to create products and baking processes that successfully fulfill these new marketplace demands. These increasingly popular products often require unique culinary talent, specialized food science, and product formulations that require the invention of new bakery manufacturing equipment and baking processes.
Because it has been difficult to create successful new industrial scale products for elimination diets, many of these new specialty baked goods were originally created and packaged by hand in small baking operations. However, as demand has continued to grow, automation to one degree or another has become necessary. Similarly, the “art of baking” gluten-free and vegan cuisine is a work in progress that has required significant invention to create successful products that are both nutritious and appetite-appealing.
While many consumers want or need these new baked goods, it is often hard for them to find products which taste good and are likely to become a part of their continuing diet. Early gluten-free and vegan baking solutions often involved the creation of non-traditional flour that removed the unacceptable ingredients. “Gluten-free” flour, “wheat-free” flour, and “dairy-free” products emerged and were often used within what came to be called a “replacement model.” In this approach, the flour within a traditional baking recipe was “replaced” with a gluten-free or non-wheat flour (other grains besides wheat that include gluten are barley, rye, triticale, kamut, and spelt), to produce an often marginally acceptable baked product that lacked appetite-appeal and failed to deliver culinary satisfaction. Nevertheless, for many, there were no other alternatives.
For celiacs, individuals who suffer from a lifelong inherited autoimmune condition known as “celiac disease,” food was an ongoing problem. Today, celiac disease affects millions of children and adults, limiting their culinary options, negatively impacting their ability to obtain good nutrition, curtailing their social life, and affecting their entire lifestyle. Recent statistics suggest that at least 1% of the U.S. population has the disease, while another 6% of the population suffers from non-celiac gluten sensitivity or intolerance. For celiacs, eating gluten containing products is replete with negative symptoms and damage to their small intestines that prevents food and nutrients from being properly absorbed into their systems. For these individuals, and the many others who are allergic to wheat or dairy products, the daily question remains, “what can I eat?”
To meet the needs of these individuals is challenging. To this day, most gluten-free product manufacturers consider it adequate to remove gluten, and, in fact, many gluten-free products are not nutritious, all-natural, or organic. Despite the fact that celiacs are nutritionally challenged, and in need of digestible dietary nutrition, there are few products that deliver high nutrition while also being gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, and vegan. Yet, for health, ethical, and social reasons, many consumers need to eliminate gluten, wheat, dairy, animal products, and other substances that naturally occur in traditional bakery offerings, but that cause disease, intolerance, allergic reactions, or offend modern ecological or ethical sensibilities, giving cause to the imperative for “gluten-free” and “wheat free” baked goods.